The Official Boston Sports Thread

Since I forgot to post it yesterday, I'll note now that Kenya's Robert Cheruyiot and Russia's Lidiya Grigoryeva won the men's and women's divisions respectively in the 111th running of the Boston Marathon. Cheruyiot ran the 26.2 miles in 2:14:13, while Grigoryeva's time was 2:29:18.

The Patriots got insurance against Asante Samuel holding out today by signing free agent CB Tory James to a one-year contract. James has played 11 seasons, the last 4 years with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he picked off 21 of his 39 career passes and, at 6'2", 192 lbs., appears to be the sort of big, physical cornerback that the Patriots could use.

The Celtics, as they did so often during the season, ended the season with a down-to-the-wire, 91-89 loss to the Detroit Pistons at the Garden. The C's finish with a 24-58 record, 16 games behind Orlando for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics now await the draft lottery, which, as a correction, will take place on May 22.

The Patriots had their matching offer to P Todd Sauerbrun voided by a special master on a technicality in Sauerbrun's original contract with the Patriots last fall, which the special master ruled was in violation of the collective bargaining agreement because the first right of refusal clause was not on a separate page from the main part of the contract. With the ruling, Sauerbrun becomes a free agent.

I haven't been around in a while so I'll try to get caught up in one post.

It's too bad that Bledsoe is retiring. He could have been a better QB than what he will be remembered for (outside of NE anyway). I agree with you Mike, had he taken on the role of mentor he would have been able to share something with the younger QB's of today. Hopefully he can find some peace from the critics in retirement.
I heard that Saurbrun (i know i butchered that but i don't really care to look it up) signed with the Broncos the other day for a 1-year deal.
The draft is this weekend (FINALLY!!!) so it will be interesting to see what they do with there pics.

The Sox had a great series against the Jays and it's going to be a great weekend for baseball as we get the warm weather AND the Yankees coming back to town starting tonight. The Yankees pitching seems to be keeping things interesting lately but A-Rod has been keeping things exciting with his burst of HR's this spring.

As for the C's, at least the torture is over and they can also look forward to the draft.

The series sure got started with a bang. Down 6-2 in the 8th, the Red Sox rallied for 5 in the bottom of the inning and Hideki Okajima shut the door in the 9th for his first major league save. The key blows in the 8th were a 2-run triple by the much-maligned (of late) Coco Crisp to tie the game and a flare over a drawn-in Yankee infield by Alex Cora to score Crisp with the eventual game-winner. To make things that much sweeter, those hits came off of Mariano Rivera, who was charged with a blown save (his second in two chances this season) as well as the loss. Curt Schilling might have had a good game, too, but there was the matter of that A-Rod fellow, who tagged him for two homers.

The series continues this afternoon with a game that will be televised on Fox.

In Celtics news, guard Sebastian Telfair was arrested outside of New York City on a weapons charge after Telfair was pulled over for speeding. Police reportedly found a loaded .45-calibre handgun under the seat of his 2006 Range Rover. Telfair is no stranger to off-the-court problems, the most recent coming last October when he was robbed of a $50K diamond chain at a restaurant owned by rapper Sean Combs.

No late-inning heroics were needed yesterday, because, after keeping pace with the Yankees through the first 3 innings, the Red Sox scored 3 runs in the fourth and held on for a 7-5 win. Josh Beckett, after a shaky first couple of innings, settled down nicely and also managed to keep A-Rod in the park. "Big Papi's" 6th homer of the season in the fourth off Yankee starter Jeff Karstens proved to be the difference. The series ends tonight with Daisuke Matsuzaka facing Chase Wright in a nationally-televised ESPN Sunday night game.

There seems to be no end to the history that was made @ Fenway Park last night. OK, I'm overstating things, but you had to have loved last night's game against the Yankees. The big story was Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek hitting four consecutive homers off Yankee starter Chase Wright; it was the first time the Red Sox pulled off the feat, and the first time an American League team hit 4 consecutive homers since the Minnesota Twins hit 4 consecutive off the Kansas City Athletics on May 2, 1964. J.D. Drew must love these moments, because he was also involved in the Dodgers' 4 consecutive homers off the San Diego Padres last September. Dice-K's performance was pedestrian, but he hung around long enough to get the win and, on the bright side, he struck out A-Rod twice. The other bit of history is that the Sox swept a three-game series @ Fenway from the Yankees for the first time since 1990...keep in mind, they won the division title that year.

Now now... don't start talking about division titles just yet, we don't want to jinx anything by getting too far ahead of ourselves here. Not that I wasn't thinking the same thing though .

I missed Saturday's game but I watched the other two and all I have to say is that even if the remaining Sox/Yanks series' are only half as exciting as the one this past weekend then the 2007 will be one of the best ever!!!

After a 3-game sweep of the Yankees that beat up on the Sox over the weekend the boys dropped a 2-game series to the Blue Jays ending yesterday with an ugly loss full of bad pitching and errors. The one saving grace is that the Yankees continued to have trouble with the Devil Rays as they lost their last 2 games as well. They are playing another 2-game series leading right into the weekend series in the Bronx, leaving no time for rest for a team that could definately use a day off.

If you're a fan of sports memorabilia, love the Red Sox, and happen to have, say, $20K burning a hole through your bank statements, an authentic 2004 World Series championship ring could be yours. The ring is owned by Cucho Rodriguez, a retired Puerto Rican scout who was working for the Red Sox during the 2004 season.

As preparation for the NFL draft this weekend, here is [link=http://officialnewenglandpatriots.wordpress.com]a 7-round Patriots mock draft[/link] done by Tom Casale of Patriots Football Weekly. (Note: the link leads to the Patriots' new official blog, and the mock draft was the top entry at the time of this writing.)

Baltimore Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne touched off a storm of controversy last night by saying on his broadcast of last night's game between the Orioles and the Red Sox that Doug Mirabelli told him that Curt Schilling's famous bloody sock from the 2004 postseason was actually red paint. Mirabelli denied making that statement to Thorne, and Schilling challenged everyone to conduct a DNA test on the World Series sock, which is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Even Kevin Millar, a current member of the Orioles who was a member of the Red Sox in 2004, backed Schilling up on the matter.

Just to tie up the loose ends from "Sockgate", Gary Thorne said yesterday that the whole thing was "a breakdown in communication."

Back to business as usual...the Red Sox, after taking the two-game series in Baltimore (thanks to a Wily Mo PeÃ±a grand slam in the 8th inning last night), invade the Bronx for a weekend series against the hated Yankees. There is a 50% chance of rain forecast tonight for the Bronx, so the pitching probables I'm about to give are subject to change:

Dice-K had a rough 4th inning, in which he walked the bases loaded and had all 4 of the Yankees' runs score on him to give them a 4-2 lead, but the offense was able to get the lead back and more off of Andy Pettitte and the bullpen, and Dice-K won his third game of the season, going 6 innings in an 11-4 final. It seems the difference in these Sox/Yankees games so far has been the bullpens...the Sox bullpen has held pretty steady, while the Yankees 'pen has been full of leaks from having to pitch a lot of innings (and not just in the Sox games, either).

The series continues today with a game to be televised nationally on Fox.

In Patriots pre-draft news, it was reported yesterday that TE David Thomas suffered a broken foot while participating in the team's offseason conditioning program. [link=http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2007/04/27/thomas_suffers_broken_foot/]According to the Globe[/link], the severity of Thomas' injury was unclear, as was the timetable for his return to action.

As I start typing this, the Patriots are on the clock w/ their first first-round pick, which is #24 overall. Like last year, I'll make just one post for all of the draft activity and edit it as the draft progresses. I'll also add some analysis on Monday after the draft is over.

Trades: The second first-round pick, #28 overall, was traded to the San Francisco 49ers for a fourth-round pick (#110 overall) and a first-round pick in 2008.

The third-round pick, #91 overall, was traded to the Oakland Raiders for a seventh-round pick (#211 overall) and a third-round pick in 2008.

The fourth-round pick acquired on Saturday from the San Francisco 49ers, #110 overall, was traded to the Oakland Raiders for WR Randy Moss (as first posted by DarthWormie below).

Analysis: It was clear that Bill Belichick was not enamored with this draft class, as he only took one player with the three picks available on Day 1. Not liking any of the linebackers available at #24, Belichick instead chose to take the safety, Brandon Meriweather, who was perhaps the best cover safety available. Meriweather is a bit undersized, but is still a physical tackler with good technique. He does carry some baggage, though...some of you may remember him from the brawl against Florida International, for which he was suspended for one game for stomping on an FIU player lying on the ground. Meriweather was also involved in a shooting incident in his time @ Miami, but the gun he used was legally registered to him, and he was protecting his roommate, who had been shot in the buttocks prior to Meriweather returning fire.

Baggage, of course, also accompanies the other big move the Patriots made this weekend, the deal for WR Randy Moss. People seem to be divided on this move...on the one hand, they think Moss will be the proverbial "cancer in the locker room". However, I'll say that Moss agreed to restructure his contract, reducing his 2007 salary from $9.75M to $3M (plus incentives), so he won't have the leverage he would have if he was still on the big contract. The contract is also not guaranteed, meaning Belichick can cut him if he gets out of line. If you look at the whole deal, in effect, the Patriots traded Central Michigan OT Joe Staley (who the 49ers took with the #28 pick) and Cincinnati CB John Bowie (who the Raiders took with the #110 pick) for Moss and the 49ers' first-round pick next year, which is not a bad gamble.

As far as New England college players go, aside from the aforementioned Justise Hairston, Boston College had two players drafted (OT James Marten in the third round by the Cowboys, and All-American G Josh Beekman in the fourth round by the Bears), and Brown (OLB Zak DeOssie by the Giants in the fourth round), New Hampshire (CB Corey Graham in the fifth round by the Bears), and Connecticut (FB Deon Anderson by the Cowboys in the sixth round) also had players drafted.

Well, you can't win them all, and the Yankees are too good to lose them all, as they proved today. The Yanks got a 4th inning 2-run homer by Jorge Posada off Tim Wakefield, and that proved to be enough, as they wound up winning 3-1. The Yankee bullpen, which has been a problem recently, did the job today, with lefty Kei Igawa going 6 innings in place of starter Jeff Karstens, who had to leave the game after 2 batters because of a leg injury, and Brian Bruney and Kyle Farnsworth holding the lead to get to Mariano Rivera, who recorded his first save in 3 chances this season.

The series concludes tomorrow with an afternoon game televised locally on NESN.

Former Red Sox pitcher Josh Hancock, who was with the St. Louis Cardinals the last 2 seasons, was killed last night in an auto accident in St. Louis. The Cardinals have postponed tonight's scheduled game against the Chicago Cubs. Hancock, who pitched in 3 games for the Red Sox in 2002, also spent time with Philadelphia and Cincinnati before joining the Cardinals before the 2006 season.

The Red Sox ended up taking 2 of the 3 games in the Bronx from the Yankees this weekend, with Julian Tavarez winning today's duel of sinkerballers 7-4 for his first win of the season. The Red Sox offense was paced by homers from "Big Papi", Alex Cora, and Manny Ramirez, with the last 2 being 2-run shots.

I added my analysis of the Pats' weekend to the draft post this morning, so you might want to scroll back up and check.

I'd also be remiss to not make note of the passing last week of Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam, who was killed in a California auto accident. He wrote a number of books on various subjects, but sports was his specialty, and the reason why I'm noting his passing here is that he wrote a book on Patriots coach Bill Belichick titled "The Education of a Coach" a couple of years ago that I highly recommend to any Pats fan.

A beautiful sight indeed. As Ian Browne pointed out in his [link=http://browniepoints.mlblogs.com/]blog on redsox.com[/link], this is the largest division lead the Red Sox have ever had at the end of April. Winning exactly 2/3 of their games, the Sox are also on pace to meet the 108 wins predicted by WEEI's Mike Adams.

The Red Sox begin the month of May tonight with a brief two-game series at Fenway against the Oakland A's.